Huffman homers in the eighth to power Redbirds’ win

2017-05-29T03:41:00Z

Memphis, TN (Redbirds) –Chad Huffman hit a pinch-hit, three-run home run on a 3-0 pitch in the bottom of the eighth, his second pinch-hit bomb in four days, to send the Memphis Redbirds to a 5-2 win over the Iowa Cubs Sunday night at AutoZone Park.

Huffman also hit a pinch-hit home run Wednesday in Sacramento. The Redbirds (31-20) trailed the Cubs (22-27) 2-1 entering the bottom of the eighth before putting up four runs to take the lead.

The table was set for Huffman when Wilfredo Tovar singled, stole second, and went to third when Breyvic Valera reached on an error by the first baseman on a sacrifice bunt. Huffman’s shot to the opposite field cleared the bases and made the score 4-2 in favor of the Redbirds. Memphis added another run when Carson Kelly singled home Nick Martini with two outs.

Sam Tuivailala closed the game with a perfect ninth inning.

The game was tied at one until that eighth inning, when Iowa scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

Memphis got on the board in the fourth inning when Todd Cunningham doubled home Martini. The Cubs scored their first run in the sixth off Mike Mayers, who ended the night allowing only that one run on five hits in 6.0 innings. He struck out a season-high seven on the night.

Mark Montgomery got the win with 2.0 innings of relief work.

Memphis and Iowa are back in action tomorrow, Memorial Day, at 12:05 p.m. Memphis is in the midst of a stretch of 15-of-19 games at home.